


Darling Heart

by redluna



Series: the undone and the divine [2]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, M/M, Sibling Incest, Very slight underage since Arthur is 18 to Eames' 16/17
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2013-09-24
Packaged: 2017-12-22 15:48:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redluna/pseuds/redluna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Arthur has to go to college reality crashes in on both the brothers and the havoc that follows might just break the boys apart forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here it is at last, the next installment of what has become known, at least to me, as "The one where Arthur and Eames are brothers". In the spirit of some sense of continuity, the title comes from Hardest of Hearts by Florence and the Machine.

Eames was sure that he had to be the only teenager not looking forward to summer vacation. Except that that wasn’t exactly right. He was looking forward to all of the free time, especially those days when Arthur would be getting off work while their parents left for work of their own. Yet, at the same time, he was painfully aware of how limited those days would be and what would come after.

This would be Arthur’s last summer break spent as a high school student. He had already been accepted into an impressive college off in New York City.

Their parents made sure to flaunt that piece of information to its full affect at the graduation party, of course. The party wasn’t even what it should have been, not for a teenager. It was like some insufferable social gathering with adults wandering around with glasses of wine and picking at finger foods. It was more their parents’ party than Arthur’s.

Even knowing that Arthur was sure to make up for it by meeting up with Dom and Mal later didn’t help to make it any better.

It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that Arthur sought him out in the corner he had gone to sulk in. No one else had really approached him, which didn’t come as much of a surprise either. Their parents’ friends tended to have the same exacting tastes, after all.

“Hey there.” Arthur bumped his shoulder against Eames’. “Everything alright?”

Eames wanted to lie, really he did, but it had always been hard to do that with Arthur. “No,” he grumbled. “I hate this.”

“Yeah.” Arthur’s voice was soft and a little bit sad. “Thought so.”

Eames felt the sting of tears in his eyes and blinked hard, refusing to let them gather. “I don’t want you to go,” he muttered.

Arthur didn’t say anything, but he reached out to loop his fingers through Eames’ own. Eames jolted, at first, thinking that the eyes of everyone must have turned towards them, but a quick scan of the room proved that everyone was still lost in their snatches of small talk. He supposed that the action must have seemed brotherly to anyone who did notice. He was the only one besides for Arthur who would know that it wasn’t entirely like that.

“I don’t like the idea of leaving you here with them,” Arthur said. He didn’t have to specify who he meant, but his eyes flicked over to their parents all the same. “But it will only be for one more year. Then you’ll be free.” He squeezed Eames’ hand. “But come on, we don’t have to talk about it now. Let me distract you.”

Eames let himself be tugged away from the party, only putting up a fuss when he realized that Arthur was leading him towards the laundry room. “Arthur, we can’t just—”

“Shh!” Arthur was laughing as he pulled Eames into the laundry room. “They won’t even know we’re here.” He reached in to press a kiss to the spot behind Eames’ ear, which wasn’t fair since it made Eames’ knees go all wobbly.

“Cheater,” Eames huffed. Arthur had already gotten his dress pants undone, though, and was sliding down to his knees, so Eames didn’t really have time to say much else. 

Arthur kept insisting that he was still learning when it came to this, but Eames didn’t really know what the hell he was talking about. Maybe it was his inexperience talking, yet it still felt just as good when Arthur took his cock into his mouth, so he didn’t really care. His head slammed back so fast that shelves rattled a little. He could tell Arthur was laughing at him for it from the vibrations that thrummed along his cock and the amusement in his brother’s eyes. He couldn’t really complain about the affect the former had, but Eames reached down to tug on Arthur’s hair. 

He had meant for it just to be a way to tease Arthur, but then he realized that it had actually made Arthur moan and his fingers dug down hard in Arthur’s hair.

Eames knew he couldn’t push forward, not without choking Arthur. The last time this had happened he’d been too lost to even think of it. Now, however, he wound up moving his hips in a shallow thrust before he even realized what he was doing. 

“S—Sorry!” Eames scrambled to say. But then he realized that Arthur wasn’t gagging. He didn’t even look angry. Instead his eyes were wide with… Oh.

Arthur pulled back, tongue swiping across his bottom lip. “You can do that again,” he said, voice hoarse. “Just, you know, take it easy. But that was really…” He didn’t let himself finish before taking Eames’ cock back into his mouth, looking back up at the boy expectantly.

Eames took a deep breath, curling his fingers back in Arthur’s hair. He could hear the distant murmurings of the party and he used that as a way to ground himself so that he wouldn’t give into the urge to just take from that hot, wet space.

Either way, his thrusts didn’t manage to stay slow for long. He still managed to keep from pushing in too far (by some miracle), but he was definitely getting sloppier as he got closer to the edge. He tightened his fingers on Arthur’s hair, trying to give some sort of warning, but Arthur only hallowed out his cheeks, sending Eames toppling over almost immediately.

The world went fuzzy around the edges for a little while after that, but once he started to come back down he start to realize that Arthur was trying to wipe his face clean.

“Oh, fuck, I didn’t mean—”

“Shut up.” Arthur shot him a sly grin. “I like it.”

A surprised burst of laughter broke free from Eames. “Who knew you’d be such a perv?” he said.

Arthur snorted as he rose to his feet. “Like you’re one to talk.” He rubbed his hand across his face, wiping off the last bits of come. “And no one will ever get to know.”

Eames fumbled with the button of his pants, suddenly anxious. He couldn’t help remembering why no one could ever know about this. If anyone knew about it then they’d be sick, and rightfully so. It was all because he couldn’t…

“Hey.” Eames found himself jolted out of his thoughts as Arthur took his face in his hands. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He looked like he wanted to say something more for a second, but instead he only sighed. “Let’s just head back out, okay? It wouldn’t be good if they came looking for us.”

Eames nodded, fixing a smile on his face when he realized that Arthur was still looking at him worriedly. He could be alright, really. He could manage that for Arthur.

\---

And Eames was alright, as it turned out, for most of the summer. The setup of things was about the same as every summer that had come before. Their parents would hardly ever be in the house. If it wasn’t for a case that had them working overtime then it was some new thing they’d managed to get a special invitation for. They would always slip out with some passing endearment to Arthur and a reminder that Eames should stay out of his brother’s hair so he could concentrate.

Arthur had taken to flashing him a wink or a grin around those times. Eames had had to bite down on the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing the first time it happened. 

That was one thing that had definitely changed.

Eames had always spent the majority of his free time with Arthur over the summer, but now it wasn’t just goofing around on video games or playing mock soccer games outside. Now Eames found he could hardly be anywhere in the house with Arthur without one of them starting something. (The couch had been understandable, but he really didn’t think he’d ever be able to look at the kitchen counter the same way.)

They still hadn’t gone all the way with things, though. Eames had tried to bring it up in conversation more than once, yet Arthur always skittered away from the topic each time. He decided that it was probably best to let it rest after that. After all, he hadn’t even thought he would be allowed to have what he did now. He wasn’t about to risk it just to try to gain more.

And it wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy what they were currently doing. He hadn’t really known that there could be so many different variations of…well everything.

They made sure not to stay holed up in the house all the time, though. It only took three days into the summer for Ariadne to burst into the house, insisting that she hadn’t seen him in too long and Dom had shown up not long after to find out why Arthur wasn’t responding to his texts.

So there were some days that had to be devoted strictly to their friends. Ariadne still complained about him being distracted, although she certainly had no qualms about taking advantage of it so that she could cream him on video games. He saw her shooting him certain looks sometimes, though, like she was trying to figure out what was going on inside his head. Still, she didn’t bring up the possibility of him having a crush on someone again, which he was grateful for.

And, he had to admit, he actually kind of liked the times that he’d come back from Ariadne’s the best of all. Because those would be the times when Arthur would grab at him, hands practically tearing at his clothes while attacking Eames’ mouth with his own. It made Eames actually feel wanted, like Arthur was doing this for himself and not just for Eames.

But it couldn’t last forever, of course, and soon it was the middle of August. Their parents actually did stick around the house then, dictating what Arthur should be bringing with him to college and what he shouldn’t. 

Eames just stood glumly in the midst of it all, only reacting when he was ordered to lug yet another box out to the car. It probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Arthur dragged him into his bed that night.

“We haven’t done anything like this since we were kids,” Eames huffed.

“Yeah, well I figured…” Arthur let his words slip away with a sigh, wrapping his arms around Eames instead. “I think it’s kind of what we need right now, yeah?”

Eames didn’t say anything, although he supposed the way he burrowed his face into Arthur’s neck was as good an answer as any.

They stayed that way for quite some time, just holding each other, until Arthur tangled his fingers in Eames’ hair. “It won’t be that bad, you know,” he said. “I mean, it will only be one more year.”

Eames wanted to agree, if only to reassure Arthur, but at this point even a year felt like an entirety.

Fortunately it didn’t seem like Arthur had expected Eames to reply. “I’ll be coming back for breaks and that kind of thing too. And I’ll make sure to check in—” He would have gotten further if Eames hadn’t chose that moment to lift his head so that he could slam his mouth against his brother’s. It was one of the first times he had actually been the one to initiate it. “Eames?”

“Can we just…” Eames chewed on his bottom lip. “Can we talk about all of it later?” Even though he knew that there might not be another chance to talk about it at all. He just didn’t want to talk about it. Not when it made everything feel so final and he knew that once Arthur went to college he would realize just how stupid it was to indulge his little brother.

Arthur looked conflicted, but some of Eames’ distress must have shown on his face since he just wound up pressing a kiss to the corner of Eames’ mouth. “Alright, alright. We’ll talk about it later then.” He shook his head when Eames tried to slid his hands up under his sleep shirt, catching at his wrists. “No, not yet. I have something to give you.”

Eames blinked up at Arthur owlishly. “But you don’t have to give me anything,” he said. 

Arthur huffed out a laugh. “You have to be one of the only people on earth who would turn down a gift.” He grinned when Eames stuck out his tongue at him, nudging the other boy in the side with his knee. “Say whatever you want, I’m gonna give it to you anyway.” He rolled over before any fresh protests could come from Eames, reaching into his nightstand drawer. He shifted up into a sitting position once he rolled back, making his brother move with him.

Eames looked down at Arthur’s clenched fist. Despite all his objections, he was actually pretty curious to see what Arthur had gotten him. He nudged Arthur with his knee when the other boy stayed silent. “Come on, you can’t clam up on me now,” he said.

That was enough to make Arthur snort. “Oh, so now he’s eager.” He held out his hand, although he didn’t unfold his fingers quite yet. “I don’t have a box or anything, but I figured it could stand on its own.” 

Eames was about to ask what the hell that was supposed to mean when Arthur stretched his fingers out to reveal what he’d been holding onto.  
[It was a ring.](http://applesofgold.com/jewelryblog/images/2009/03/platinum-hammered-wedding-band-300x286.jpg)The metal was a cool, shiny tone with the outside of the band hammered to give it a sort of crumpled effect.

“It’s beautiful,” Eames said. He reached out to take it only to pause, shooting Arthur a suspicious look. “How much did this cost you?”

Arthur rolled his eyes in a sense of mock exasperation. “I knew you were going to ask,” he said. “So, no, you don’t need to freak out over me getting it from some expensive jewelry store.” He paused to shoot Eames a grin. “You’d deserve it, though.”

Eames could feel his cheeks heating. “Would not,” he said.

“Would too,” Arthur tossed back. “But, anyway, I actually found this in the antique store. The woman who runs it said that it had actually been given by a man to another man in the 1920’s. It was supposed to be like a wedding ring or something.”

“But they couldn’t get married,” Eames said.

“That’s the whole point,” Arthur said. “It’s more like a promise than anything else.”

“And what exactly are you promising?” Eames asked.

“Well I thought that’d be obvious.” Arthur reached out to take Eames’ hand, sliding the ring onto his ring finger. “It’s a promise that we’ll always be there for each other. And no one will know the truth of it except for us.”

“No one will ever know…” Eames wasn’t entirely sure why those words should make something twist in his stomach. If anything he should be happy for this, especially at the promise it held.

Maybe it was that he just couldn’t really believe in it.

“Hey, none of that.” Arthur brushed the fingers of his free hand across Eames’ face. “I mean it, you know, I’ll always come back to you.”

And, yeah, Eames did know that. He just got the feeling that when Arthur came back it would only be as his brother and not as…whatever they were now.

He made sure to swallow that all down, though, in the face of Arthur’s expectant gaze. “Thank you, Arthur.” He poked Arthur in the side. “Although your class ring would have sufficed, you sap.”

“Shush,” Arthur said, “you are ruining our moment.” But he was laughing along with Eames as he looped an arm around the boy’s neck, tugging him back down. “Now come here and reward me.”

\---

The whole day when he was supposed to leave, Arthur kept stealing kisses from Eames. It would have made Eames happy if he didn’t know that this was probably the last time he’d be able to have this, despite what his brother said.  
Perhaps it was for the best, though, because when it was time to see Arthur off all they could do was hug each other. And even that went on long enough for their dad to start clearing his throat while their mom sighed.  
Eames was glad he had Ariadne’s hand to cling onto when he waved goodbye to Arthur. She squeezed his hand extra hard when his mom leaned in to squint at his face.

“Are you crying?” 

Wiping at his eyes would have been too obvious, but Eames blinked hard, hoping that that would be enough to hide the dampness in his eyes. “No, ma’am,” he mumbled.

“I should hope not.” His mom turned away from him with a scoff. “We’re the ones that are actually losing something here.”

Eames was the one who had to squeeze Ariadne’s hand this as a warning when he felt her tense up with anger. “I’m going over to Ariadne’s house.” He didn’t wait for an answer before walking off with Ariadne.

It wasn’t like one came anyway.

\---

Eames wound up staying over at Ariadne’s almost every chance he got over the next few days. His parents didn’t really care since it was right in the neighborhood and, besides, the house felt strangely empty without Arthur. He found himself lingering on the threshold of Arthur’s room, just staring at the blank walls and bare bed. It seemed like an utterly ridiculous thing to do, but he could never bring himself to go in all the same.

Arthur did keep his promise to call, at least, but even that hadn’t really lasted. There had been the sounds of a party in the background when he last called, after all, and there had been voices shouting for him to come back. He had told Eames that he could call him whenever he wanted, but the one time that Eames had dared to try it Arthur had been in class. He hadn’t really wanted to try after that.

So it was probably understandable that he was feeling pretty melancholy. He just didn’t realize how obvious he was being about it until Ariadne suddenly let out a frustrated groan, rolling off her bed and onto him.

“Ariadne!” Eames scrambled up into a sitting position after Ariadne scuttled down to sit on the edge of the air mattress. “What the heck are you doing?”

“I’m just trying to figure it out,” Ariadne said. “Because, I get it, Arthur went away to college, but you’re acting like he died or something.”

Eames swallowed hard, trying hard to ignore the fissure of panic that was swelling up in his gut. “I’m just… I’m trying to adjust, that’s all. I mean, Arthur’s always been here and now he’s—”

“Yeah, he’s gone, we’ve all noticed, Eames. But it’s not like you’re alone. You still have…” She bit down on her bottom lip. “You have me, still. And, despite what you think, you have most of the drama department too. So what makes Arthur so special?”

“He’s my brother, Ari,” Eames pointed out. But if he had hoped that she would leave it at that, he was doomed to be disappointed.

“No, it’s not just that,” Ariadne said. “It’s always been all about him with you. And, I mean, I got it at first because, yeah, he’s your brother, but then it started to seem like hero worship or something. Or…” She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“No.” Eames didn’t know why he was still talking. He should just flop back onto the air mattress and pretend to go back to sleep until she went away. But that would have been the smart thing, of course. “If it’s been on your mind then you should say it.”

“Fine,” Ariadne huffed, “but you’re not going to like it.” Her eyes stayed trained on Eames, although he couldn’t read what was reflected in them. “Look, if you weren’t brothers, I’d think you were in love with him or something.”

Eames’ reaction was so automatic that he didn’t think he could stop it if he tried. He could practically feel all the color lurching its way out of his face and he was certain that his grip on the sheets must have turned white knuckled.

He could tell right when Ariadne realized as well. She leaned forward at first, face full of concern, only to freeze about halfway, her mouth slipping open. “No, no… I wasn’t even being serious…” Her hands flew to her mouth. “Oh my God, what has he done to you, Eames?”

“What?” Eames had expected Ariadne to be upset and disgusted, but with him, not with… “Are you talking about Arthur?”

“Of course I’m talking about Arthur!” Ariadne shook her head. “I should have known he’d pull something like this. He was always setting himself up as your…as your everything. It was like he was conditioning you towards all this or something.”

“Ariadne, that’s ridiculous!” Eames said.

“Then why did you let him do it?” Ariadne demanded. It was like she wasn’t even stopping to consider that Eames could have been the one who instigated it. And he might have appreciated that kind of loyalty under different circumstances.

“If you’re looking for someone to blame then it’s me,” Eames said. “Arthur wouldn’t have done anything if I hadn’t told him how I was feeling.”

“How he made you feel,” Ariadne said.

“No.” Eames wasn’t about to let Arthur take the blame for something that had been his fault, not if he could help it. “Arthur didn’t do anything to me, Ariadne. Or, I mean, not anything that I didn’t ask for.”

His words only seemed to make Ariadne even more aghast, however. “How can you say that, Eames?” she said. “None of this is your fault. You’re the victim here, not him. Thank God he’s gone for now. And if you report him then—”

“No!” Eames exclaimed. “I’m not going to… Nothing happened to deserve that!” He wasn’t even sure what Ariadne thought Arthur and him—or just Arthur—had done, but maybe he could convince her that it hadn’t been anything that extreme. He couldn’t let her drag Arthur down when he had done nothing wrong.

Ariadne looked like she wanted to protest, but Eames’ face must have shown his desperation since she let it drop. “Okay, okay.” She moved forward on the air mattress until she was close enough to wrap an arm around Eames. “But I’m going to help keep you away from him once he gets back. He can’t be allowed to keep doing this, Eames.”

Eames nodded, but he wasn’t really agreeing to what Ariadne was saying. Or, well, he was in some ways if only her words were to be rearranged a little. He was the one who couldn’t be allowed to keep doing this kind of thing to Arthur, after all. Without his influence Arthur would be able to have the normal life he deserved.

It was all for the best, really.


	2. Chapter 2

College was everything that Arthur had expected it to be and everything he hadn’t at the same time. The town where he’d grown up was by no means small, but New York City was far vaster, thrumming to the brim with life. And none of the people there, except for Dom and Mal, knew about his supposed “golden boy” status. He was just plain, old Arthur Chalan, yet another college student trying to find his way in the city. It was thrilling, in a way, to be able to make a new name for himself.

Still, besides for that, everything was a great deal more hectic than he had ever expected. He did his best to keep to his promise of calling Eames once a day, but there were days where so busy he couldn’t even try. Then there came a day where his mind became so clogged up with classes and homework that he didn’t even think of Eames or anything related to him.

He felt a horrible surge of guilt once he realized what had happened, but he really did have to do well. Mal had the benefit of being in the department that her father taught in, so all the professors were quick to dote upon her. And Dom was garnering attention just as quickly over the innovative designs he brought to his sketches. Arthur, meanwhile, was constantly being told that his own designs were too rigid and that he needed to learn to take more chances.

It was enough to make him wonder if he should switch majors, especially since he seemed to do far better in the classes he was taking for his business minor. A fair number of those in the major where those getting prepped to take over their daddy’s (or mommy’s, to be fair) company, but there were some that were tolerable, like Robert Fischer.

Everyone knew who his father was, although most people stopped going, “Oh my God, so you’re _that_ Fischer?” after being on the receiving end of Robert’s glare. Actually, Arthur was reasonably sure Robert singled him out to be his partner in class because Arthur never bothered to ask that question.

The two of them worked well together, nearly dominating each class discussion. Arthur had the ability to come up with all sorts of quick-fire strategies, but Robert could back all of it up with the ruthlessness that could only come from being Maurice Fischer’s son.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to start hanging out outside of class, finding common interests outside of ripping peoples’ business setups to shreds. It was nice to have someone to be with while Mal and Dom were off being wined and dined by the higher ups in the architecture department. And while Arthur couldn’t vent to either of his friends from back home about how it felt to be left out, he could with Robert. Mostly because Robert understood where he was coming from.

The only downside was that Mal didn’t seem to like him. Even Dom had wound up squinting at Robert when he joined them for lunch in the dining hall that one time. Yet neither of them could really come up with a reason for their dislike when Arthur questioned them about it later while they lounged on the steps of the Met with their ice cream cones.

“I don’t know.” Mal rolled her shoulders in a shrug so dainty it somehow didn’t manage to upset the leaning tower that was her ice cream. “It’s something in the way he looks at you.” Her nose wrinkled. “I don’t like it.”

“The way he looks at me?” Arthur asked, a bit of a laugh in his voice. “What can be so bad about the way he looks at me, Mal?”

There was something almost like sympathy in Mal’s eyes as she sighed and patted him on the head. “Oh, Arthur,” she said, “you are ever so naïve.”

He didn’t understand what in the world she meant until one night weeks later when he was sharing a bottle of far too expensive wine with Robert and the other boy smashed their lips together.

He was too stunned to respond right away, but then Robert was pulling away, stumbling out an apology, and looking so very crushed that Arthur couldn’t help kissing him again.

Or at least that’s what he blamed it on the next morning when he woke up tangled in Robert’s limbs. His horrible hangover reminded him of how drunk he had been too and he tried to use that to chase away the guilt that lingered in him when he thought of Eames.

He couldn’t use alcohol as an excuse when he tumbled into bed with Robert after that, though. All he could think of was that he was starved for touch had been ever since he had had to leave Eames. But that only made him remember just how long it had been before he had even talked to Eames, which was how he wound up sitting on the bed while Robert was in the bathroom, clutching his cellphone to his ear as he called Eames’ own cell.

He nearly dropped the phone in surprise, however, when a completely unfamiliar voice answered, “Oi! What you want?”

“Um, is this Eames’ phone?” he asked.

“Yeah.” The voice was male with just a hint of an accent around it, although Arthur couldn’t tell from where. “And I repeat: what you want?”

“Stop being a dick, Yusuf.” There was an indignant squawk from the boy—Yusuf, Arthur figured—and then Eames’ voice came down the line. “Hello?”

“Hey, Eames,” Arthur said. “How are you?”

The silence on the other end lasted for so long that Arthur started to worry he wasn’t going to get any response at all. Then he heard a shuffling sound in the background, combined with some raised voices which Eames hurriedly told to shush. The noises became steadily more distant until it was completely quiet, so Arthur figured Eames must have moved into a different room. He couldn’t say he wasn’t grateful for it.

“Arthur?” Eames said. “You still there?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m…” Arthur cleared his throat, trying to remind himself that he shouldn’t feel awkward. This was his brother, after all. The two of them had been carrying on conversations like this for their whole lives. “I haven’t gone anywhere. Where are you, though?”

“I’m at Ariadne’s.” There was something almost defensive in Eames’ voice. “It’s better here than it is at home. And it’s not like Mom or Dad give a shit about it.”

Arthur could literally feel his eyebrows shooting up towards his hairline. Eames had never been the type to curse so blandly. “Is everything alright? They haven’t done anything to you have they?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” And there was something sharp in his voice that made Arthur lurch back unconsciously. “It’s not like you have any idea what’s happening in my life right now anyway.” 

“Eames, what—”

“Sorry.” Eames said it so quickly and it sounded like all the fight had gone out of him all at once. “Sorry. But of course they haven’t done anything to me. They’re not that stupid.”

Arthur swallowed hard. “Just had to check,” he said. “Older brother duties and all, you know.” 

“Yeah, older brother stuff,” Eames said. There was something in his voice that sounded tinny, close to phony, and Arthur didn’t like the sound of it at all. But before he can say anything about it Eames was rushing on. “Look, Arthur, I’ll call you tomorrow, alright? Ariadne is going to start asking questions if I don’t come back soon and I know she’s not above sending Yusuf to come steal my phone.”

Arthur is stuffed to the brim with so many questions that his mouth was already falling open to come up with some way the two of them could work around it, but he couldn’t get so much as a sound out before the other line went dead. He took the phone away from his ear, staring down at it blankly. 

Eames had never ended a conversation with him without saying, “I love you.” He had always found some way to structure his time around Arthur, would be the first to try to arrange to talk longer to Arthur. 

But he should have expected things to change. Eames was going to start growing into his own person now, especially without Arthur around all the time, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. Even if he came to decide that he didn’t need his brother’s extra support at all anymore.

He didn’t even realize Robert had come out of the shower, clad in boxer shorts and toweling down his hair until he heard the other boy’s voice. “Hey, Arthur, what do you think of…” He trailed off, brow furrowing downwards in concern. “Are you alright?”

“Huh?” Arthur shook his head hard, plastering on a quick, easy smile. “No, I’m fine. Just got off the phone with my little brother.”

“Really?” Robert plopped down on the bed, his own smile much more real. “How’s he doing? You always go on about him so much. I can tell how proud of him you are. It’s sweet.” He rolled his shoulders up into a shrug. “Kinda wish I had someone like that around when I was a kid.”

Arthur didn’t bother saying anything to that. He reached out to wrap his hand around Robert’s neck instead, pulling him into a kiss.

It was much easier to forget what had happened under the weight of Robert’s hands.

\---

Arthur didn’t call Eames again. He could tell that Mal was upset with him for it, but he ignored the steely looks she would fix him with, even though it meant she would explode into full-scale tirades. He would keep as mum as possible throughout it all, just waiting them out, although he couldn’t say that some of her words didn’t hurt. He didn’t need to be reminded he was a crap brother, after all, he _really_ didn’t.

One day, after a few cutting remarks too many in the dining hall, he bit out, “And what if Eames doesn’t want me around, huh? What then?”

Mal’s face went from scrunched up in anger to soft with sadness in not even a second. It was still something that Arthur had no idea how she accomplished. “Oh, _mon pauvre garçon_.” She reached across the table to lay a hand on his shoulder. “That will never happen.”

She sounded so certain that Arthur didn’t know how to tell her that it already had.

\---

Arthur had managed to skip fall break, going on about having to prepare for midterms and such. It was an excuse that his parents approved of, of course, yet he received nothing from Eames except from a short text. 

He searched through Ariadne’s Facebook page in a moment of weakness, heart clenching when he saw more than a dozen pictures of Eames up, beaming so brilliantly into the camera with Ariadne and a dark skinned, curly haired boy who must have been Yusuf. He didn’t last long before slamming the computer shut.

Winter break, however, was something he couldn’t get away from. Even the ride back was torture since there was no way to distract himself from all the thoughts running through his mind.

He was actually taken aback when his dad pulled him for a hug followed by his mom pressing a kiss to his cheek, but it didn’t take long for him to figure out that they were just doing it because it was another one of those things parents were expected to do. What was really important soon emerged after they ushered him into the kitchen to shove tea and not at all homemade holiday cookies at him while probing him relentlessly about school.

It was somewhere in the middle of this that the front door slid open, squelching footsteps making their way down the hall. Arthur knew it could only be one person, the hairs on the back of his neck starting to lift when he felt the weight of Eames’ gaze settle on him.

Their dad’s eyes, as ever, narrowed when he looked at his second son. “We expected you to be here to greet your brother with us,” he said.

“Sorry, sir,” Eames said. “I lost track of time.” 

Their dad dipped his head once, quick and sharp. “See that it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” Eames said.

Arthur could have laughed at the exchange since he knew neither of their parents would have given a damn what time Eames got back except for the fact that they were supposed to present a united family front.

“Well, Eames,” their mom said, hands folded together on the table, “aren’t you going to say hello to your brother?”

There was a slight pause in which Arthur forced himself to twist around his chair to actually look at his brother. He had seen what Eames looked like in pictures, of course, but there was something different about seeing him in person. For one, he could see the heavy circles under Eames’ eyes, the way his smile looked completely forced on.

“Hey Arthur, it’s good to have you back.” He rose his hand in a mock wave and it should have been innocent except for the fact that Arthur couldn’t hide his flash of shock when his eyes caught sight of something. He knew Eames must have realized too because he blanched, darting away, feet pounding up the stairs to his room. 

Arthur could hear his mom let out a small, exasperated huff from behind him. “I’ve given up trying to understand that boy.” The legs of her chair scraped across the floor in sync with his dad as they stood up almost as one. “Now your father and I are going back to work. There are leftovers in the fridge for you to heat up.”

Arthur barely even had it in him to nod. The only reason why he managed to do so was because he knew it was the only way to make sure that they were gone. His had was too wrapped up in what he had just realized, the thing that tipped everything right over into being horrible.

Eames wasn’t wearing their ring anymore.


End file.
